298 DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
some remarkable incidents. Up to the time hostili ties commenced, it appeared the Boers had been very good to the English clergy, and even after the outbreak of war they displayed no marked antipathy towards them. A case in point was that of a Mr Mercer, one of the mission staff, who, on the Swazi land border at a place called Enblozona con tinued to labour until last March, when he was taken away by the British troops as they went East. Since then the place has been looted. More recently in the Rorke s Drift and Itala districts Church work has been terribly upset and hindered through the ravages of war. Fortunately, the Bishop himself has been preserved from personal injury and grave risk ; but on two occasions he has had unpleasant experiences, and suffered loss of pro perty in the shape of horses. On one occasion while in the neighbourhood of Vryheid the Boers decamped with his cart horses, and at another time while fulfilling diocesan engagements at Kwa- magwaza the enemy approached his quarters at night and again relieved him of his horses. How ever, the Bishop lightly passed the matter by with the philosophical observation, " Horses are fair game in time of war, I suppose ! We had to walk instead of ride, that was all ! " The Bishop saw a good deal of the British troops at places such as Utrecht, Vryheid, Itala, and Rorke s Drift. Of the pros and cons of the war he could not reasonably be expected to speak when due
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